The first few days of the B.C. election campaign and if you’re a voter trying to navigate what is true and what isn’t — well, good luck.

An avalanche of early mischaracterizations have sprung forth from the NDP and Conservative campaigns, as they target what strategists call “low-information voters,” or, put another way, ordinary people who pay little attention to politics and don’t have the time, energy or context required to pull apart the tangled web of mistruths.

Here’s just a few examples: John Rustad wants to cut $4 billion from the health-care system. David Eby is opening new “drug dens.” Rustad wants to bring back Medical Services Plan premiums and bridge tolls. Eby is proposing to “legalize all drugs.”

No, no, no, and no.

It’s too bad the campaigns are starting this way but, well, that’s politics during an election. So it’s worth taking a second to just break this all down.

“The first time John Rustad was elected he actually closed hospitals deliberately,” Eby said Saturday at one of his launch events.

“It's not going to solve any problems. A $4-billion cut. That's not a small number. That means fewer doctors and nurses for you and your family.”

There is no $4-billion health-care cut in the Conservative platform and Rustad has never said this.

The NDP’s source is a Conservative policy background that states: “Deloitte’s assessment of the future of health-care projects that Canadian health spending as a percent of GDP will rise from 12.4% to 13.9% by 2040 if we continue on our current path. They estimate that reforms and modernization can bring about savings and reduce this to under 11% of GDP.”

From that third-party, nationwide, 16-year, health-care modernization spending adjustment, the NDP have extrapolated a Conservative promise for a $4-billion........

© BIV